Chapter 698: Radiation Resistance Technology Challenges, Unexpected Gains, and Raditz's Surprise

Good news kept coming in from the Dead Mine Town world and the Morphis Civilization Relic.

After clearing the threat of the Resentful Spirits, the geological survey team successfully located the uranium ore deposit, and the reserves were astonishing.

Meanwhile, the research team led by Jiu Feng had also made a new breakthrough in developing the Promiz Virus evolution serum.

The fixed weekly production output had now reached 120 units, a full double of what it was before.

The rate of Bronze-tier combat power proliferation had accelerated dramatically.

The Ten Thousand Nations Pact Civilization would soon usher in an era of full Bronze advancement.

When Yu Yuan arrived at the nuclear weapons research department, which had already been relocated to the Dead Mine, he was surprised to find Masier there.

She was in the middle of a discussion with Maguire and several other experts.

"What's going on here?"

"Investor, you're here! Well, while I was researching intelligent robots, I did some upgrades and modifications on the fully automated mining carts.

I happened to hear that uranium ore had been discovered here, so I wanted to use the modified automated mining carts to extract it, which would also make it convenient for me to collect data.

But it turned out things weren't as simple as I thought." Masier let out a sigh.

Yu Yuan grew interested and looked toward Maguire.

"What, did you run into problems with the mining?"

Maguire said with a smile:

"Leader, we were actually planning to report this to you later.

You see, based on our calculations, this uranium deposit is located more than eight hundred meters beneath the surface.

In-situ leaching isn't suitable for this location, and because of the Dead Mine, traditional underground mining is actually the most appropriate method.

But as you know, while uranium radiation isn't as lethal as highly enriched uranium, staying in this kind of radioactive environment for extended periods is an extreme threat to miners' lives, even with protective suits.

Actually, Masier's proposal is the best option for us. It's just that because of uranium's unique properties, the current fully automated mining carts can't meet the extraction requirements. They'd need special modifications first.

That's what we were just discussing.

In the radiation environment of uranium mining, the large number of precision electronic components inside the automated mining carts faces a severe test.

Especially the highly intelligent automated carts that Masier modified. The higher the intelligence level, the more sensitive the internal components become to ionizing radiation.

Prolonged exposure to this environment accelerates the wear of semiconductor materials, leading to degraded chip performance and increased leakage current.

Not to mention the possibility of single-event effects and displacement damage. Whether high-energy particles strike a chip and cause data bit flips, directly burn through and destroy it, or alter its electrical properties, any of these would cause the mining cart to fail.

So before the automated mining carts can begin work, they must undergo specialized radiation-hardening modifications."

By the time Maguire finished speaking, Masier had already put on a pained expression.

"But that wide bandgap semiconductor material you mentioned, I can't fabricate it at all! We don't have the specialized blueprints or materials for it. Whether it's silicon carbide or gallium nitride, we don't have the dedicated materials, let alone the more advanced gallium oxide..."

"To replace all the core chips with wide bandgap semiconductor materials, we'd first need to have the production capability for them. For now, we can only pray that the M-Type Source Core Mechanical Titan manages to analyze and obtain the blueprints for this material while recycling the Mechanical Garbage."

"That's actually what I was about to say..." Maguire chuckled.

"What?"

"Besides wide bandgap semiconductor materials, there are other ways to improve radiation resistance.

Apart from the most common physical shielding, which means using heavy metal materials like lead or tungsten to make a casing that wraps the critical chips and blocks part of the radiation, we can also achieve the expected radiation resistance through process and structural reinforcement."

Masier's eyes lit up slightly.

"How?"

"For the components, we optimize the transistor structure..." Maguire took out a blank piece of paper and started hand-drawing diagrams on it, which would make the explanation clearer.

"For example, using a ring gate design can eliminate the weak points in traditional structures that are easily penetrated by radiation."

"We can also use triple modular redundancy and error correction coding technology to work on multiple fronts. Even if one part is penetrated by radiation, the overall system can continue functioning normally..."

Yu Yuan watched the old man and the young woman, both completely immersed in their research, and let out a soft chuckle.

It seemed the two had already found a solution.

But then... Yu Yuan's gaze grew contemplative.

Although the methods Maguire had just described could achieve radiation resistance to a certain degree, the safest option was still obtaining that wide bandgap semiconductor material.

Yu Yuan believed that if he wanted to find this kind of semiconductor material, he could definitely locate the related production technology and blueprints.

After all, the fact that Maguire could speak about it so fluently meant the technology was already quite mature.

But finding it would still take some time.

"Too bad we don't have any materials science experts..."

Yu Yuan also sent a message to Alpha.

If anything related to wide bandgap semiconductor materials was found, report it immediately.

Alpha was currently sweeping through the Mechanical Scrapyard Planet, which was also the world most likely to contain technical blueprints.

Then Yu Yuan thought of someone.

"Ladiz is a member of Mechanist Supremacy. That might be a promising direction too."

-

[Ding, Rat Tail Whip effect triggered, Follower +1]

As the Wakefulness Serum was injected, Ladiz gradually regained consciousness.

Because of his prolonged coma, his mind was still somewhat hazy, and he had even experienced a certain degree of memory confusion and loss.

After a while, Ladiz finally recalled what had happened before.

He and Mossa had launched a Civilization War against the Yu Yuan Shelter, but because of that inexplicable black liquid creature, they had suffered heavy losses.

In the end, he had been captured by Yu Yuan in the chaos.

Remembering the torture and torment those soldiers had inflicted on them, Ladiz couldn't help but shudder.

"Awake?"

A voice came from behind him, and Ladiz instinctively turned around in a defensive posture.

He saw a unfamiliar figure walking out from the adjacent room.

"Already recovered? As expected of a Bronze Rank elite."

"You..." Ladiz was about to question, but a flood of information and restrictions flashed through his mind.

His body stiffened. After he processed that information, Ladiz's gaze turned complicated.

"M... Master!"

As for Ladiz's expression, Yu Yuan was already used to it. Everyone he subdued had the same expression at first, but they quickly adapted to their new identity.

"Ladiz, have you ever seen the blueprints for wide bandgap semiconductor materials on the Mechanist Supremacy forum?"

"Wide bandgap semiconductor materials?"

Ladiz was a bit puzzled, but he instinctively replied:

"Master, the Mechanist Supremacy forum is an internal trading network, so blueprints for wide bandgap semiconductor materials naturally exist there. However, the technical blueprints are quite expensive. For example, the gallium oxide technology blueprint is extremely costly, and its cost-performance ratio isn't great, so very few people are willing to redeem it."

"But..." Ladiz shifted his tone.

"If you just need wide bandgap semiconductor materials, would silicon carbide meet your requirements, Master?"

"Silicon carbide... do you actually master this technology?" Yu Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

Ladiz nodded seriously.

"Yes, I possess the production technology for silicon carbide, and my world has already completed industrial upgrades. All mechanical chips have now been replaced with silicon carbide chips."

Yu Yuan's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected such an unexpected windfall.